Fowler green with envy at Liverpool goal king Suarez

Liverpool's Luis Suarez takes a shot on goal against Norwich City during their English Premier League soccer match at Anfield in Liverpool, northern England, December 4, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Phil Noble

LONDON (Reuters) - Love him or loathe him, you simply cannot ignore Luis Suarez and there was no doubt which camp the former Liverpool favorite Robbie Fowler occupied after the Uruguayan produced a jaw-dropping four-goal show against Norwich City.

Fowler was christened 'God' by the Anfield faithful after plundering 183 goals in 369 appearances in two spells with the club and he joked that Suarez's exploits were making him and other Liverpool greats green with envy.

"Luis is a phenomenal player," said the former England international after fourth-placed Liverpool crushed Norwich 5-1 in the Premier League on Wednesday.

"I love him but I'm also starting to dislike him because he's making all the ex-Liverpool strikers look very average," joked BBC TV pundit Fowler after watching Suarez score four high-quality goals.

Suarez is a controversial figure with a series of misdemeanors behind him, most recently the infamous bite he inflicted on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic's arm in April which earned a 10-match suspension.

However, there is no denying his spell-binding talents as a striker and pundits were queuing up on Thursday to lord one of the best scoring performances in the history of the Premier League.

Uruguay international Suarez certainly enjoys facing Norwich and now has a remarkable tally of 11 goals in four games against the East Anglian club.

He opened up with an outrageous 45-metre volley that sailed past keeper John Ruddy before making it 2-0 by performing fleet-footed contortions to hook in a corner from close range.

The best goal of the night came when he took four Norwich defenders out of the game with a dynamic run and dribble and unleashed an unstoppable half-volley that again left Ruddy flailing at thin air.

Suarez put the icing on the cake in the second half with a trademark curling free kick from 25 meters that nestled in Ruddy's top corner, making him the league's top scorer this season on 13 goals.

Bradley Johnson pulled one back for Norwich before Raheem Stirling added a fifth goal to leave Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers purring with delight.

"I really enjoyed watching the team, I thought they were outstanding," said Rodgers. "But when you have a performer like Luis playing at that level it's brilliant.

"The first two goals were good but the third one was out of this world. He puts fear into defenders and the quality of that goal was just absolutely phenomenal.

"To top it off with that free kick was no accident, he practices that all the time in training. Everything about him is world-class."